Eligibility and Requirement for Becoming a Tax Agent in the UAE

There are already registered tax agents in the country as the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has approved a lot of them now. These people have met the requirements and tests that are set for people to become tax agents.

The FTA has approved of this idea of having tax agents for the country to further implement the tax system in a better way, adhering to international standards. With tax agents, the businesses that are registered for tax will be more ensured in meeting their duties and responsibilities and not delay in doing so. This will prevent them from having to face penalties.

What is a Tax Agent?

Article 1, Chapter 1 of the landmark Federal Law Number 7 of 2017 has defined what tax agent means. It has outlined the definition of this term as “any Person registered with the Authority in the Register, who is appointed on behalf of another Person to represent him before the Authority and assist him in the fulfillment of his Tax obligations and the exercise of his associated tax rights states that a Tax Agent.”

In simple terms, tax agents can be sought by tax-registered people so they can be represented by these tax agents who can directly interact with the FTA.

Steps to Becoming a Tax Agent

The FTA has laid down standards for people to meet before they can be registered tax agents. These requirements are not simple things that anyone can meet because high standards are set for growth.

An individual who is looking to be a tax agent needs to meet a couple of conditions. These are all as per Article 14, Part 2, Chapter 3 of the Law. A list of what they require for an individual to meet is as follows:

The individual needs to have a practical experience of three years in taxation, accounting, or law.

The person needs to be fluent in Arabic and English.

The individual needs to have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in tax, accounting, or law. These certificates should be from an accredited educational institution.

The individual needs to take the FTA tests and pass them.

The person needs to be physically fit for them to be able to perform the tasks needed to be done.

The person also needs to hold professional indemnity insurance.

The individual needs to have good records in terms of conduct, without any stains of crime or misdemeanor in the record.

Anyone who is interested to be a tax agent and has met those requirements can go ahead and submit an application and apply for registration. The FTA has the right and in the position to request for more documents that they deem necessary to look into your application. This can help them in deciding whether they should approve or reject your application.

Within or after 15 working days from the date that the application is submitted, the hopeful tax agents to be can expect a decision from the FTA. In this time, the FTA may or may not ask for additional information or documents as they deem it to be necessary for approving your application as being a tax agent is not an easy job.

The FTA will then take five working days for your application to be registered if you are approved.

There are a couple of reasons why the FTA will decide to reject your application after long scrutiny that is spent on it. They will and can reject your application if they see that you have failed on your part to meet the requirements that they have set to be met by hopeful tax agents to be. And lastly, they can also reject your application if they find any proof or reason that you can be a compromise in taking care of the integrity of the tax system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

It should be noted though that if a registered tax agent has stopped practicing being one because of some difficulties or other, the registered tax agent should go forward to the FTA and let them know of the situation. Also, the FTA accepts and reviews requests as well as tax agents who want to resume their practice after some time or after they have dealt with the difficulties of their situation.

VAT Consultant in UAE

Tax agents can greatly help in ensuring that you are on the right track and not delaying what needs to be submitted like tax returns. It is not an easy task to handle, and it is best done with an expert on your side.